A Cold and Wet December Day
by Dr. Breifs Cat
Summary: After defeating the darkness once and for all, the 02 kids kick back for some utterly pointless friendshippy fluff. Includes 'manditory' Ken angst, Daisuke and Miyako arguing like siblings at every turn, Hikari's bright ideas and Takeru and Iori just kin


With a soft grunt of effort, the boy pushed the heavy door open, and stepped out onto the roof of the apartment building. He didn't really know why he came there every so often, though he suspected it had more than just solitude to offer. He disliked

**A Cold and Wet December Day**

With a soft grunt of effort, the boypushed the heavy door open, and stepped out onto the roof of the apartment building.He didn't really know why he came there every so often, though he suspected it had more than just solitude to offer.He disliked being alone.Slowly he walked, putting all of his weight into each step.When he reached the edge of the roof he brought his hands up to grasp the metal link fence that kept visitors from falling to their ends.He sighed as he leaned his forehead against the cool metal as well.

He lost track of time, standing there, watching the city below him as the inhabitants scurried about there lives.He was eleven, the biggest concern of his life was finishing all of his homework before winter break was over and he had to go back to school.Or rather, it should have been.

Instead, Ichijouji Ken felt uneasy, that there was something unresolved in the air.There wasn't, was there?It was over, right?One of his hands gripped the railing fence links tighter as the other pushed the fabric of his yellowish scarf away and played across the back of his neck.

"Is it really over?" he asked aloud, his breath visible."Believe," he whispered, continuing."I've got to believe," he told himself."Can't let it get me."He squeezed his eyes shut to keep tears from falling.

"Ken!Why're you up here?"

Ken turned around, his eyes snapping open and the last remnants of his halted crying flew from his eyes.He blinked twice rapidly and felt no more salty tears coming.

Motomiya Daisuke and Takaishi Takeru had joined him on the roof, holding the heavy door open as Yagami Hikari, Inoue Miyako and Hida Iori climbed up the last few steps to the roof.Tailmon scampered out of the sheltered landing as well, a frantically flapping Poromon hovering above her.Chibimon lounged on Daisuke's shoulders and Patamon beamed at the tired digimon from his place on Takeru's head.Upamon leapt from Iori's arms and onto the concrete of the roof.Realizing how cold it was, he bounced back into the waiting arms of his partner.

"Your parents told us you were on the roof," Takeru said somewhat cheerfully, immediately following Daisuke's initial inquiry.

"It's freezing!" Miyako announced, gripping her shoulders with gloved hands.She shivered, though it was hard to tell if it was to articulate her point or from the cold."Couldn't you sulk someplace warm?"

"I'm not sulking," Ken said, "I was thinking."Miyako crinkled her nose and blew a raspberry at him.He blinked and addressed Daisuke."I just like to come up here.You can see the a lot of the city."

"There is a great view from this high," Hikari agreed, stepping to the fence as well.Tailmon nodded approvingly.

"Look at all the people going where there's heat..." Miyako muttered.

"It's not that cold," Daisuke said with a wave of his hand.

"Says you.My stockings are really thin."

"Well, who told you to wear a skirt in December?It's really dumb."

"Not as dumb as you," Miyako snorted, folding her arms.

"Take that back!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

The other children laughed as Miyako and Daisuke stuck their tongues out at one another.

"C'mon," Takeru said with a grin, as he pulled the door to the stairwell open again, "let's go back downstairs and relax.We've earned that much."

"Mm-hm," Hikari agreed, stepping away from the metal links.

"You coming, Ken?"Daisuke asked, only the direction of his head shifting, the rest of him in prime position to argue with Miyako.

"Mm?Yeah," Ken responded, his voice soft, but despite his positive words he made no move to join his friends as they trooped down the stairs.A few moments later, light, fast-paced footsteps echoed in his ears and he felt a tug on his arm.

"Ken-kun," Miyako urged, "come on." Ken nodded but his movements were slow as he fell into pace beside her."Ken-kun," Miyako repeated softly, concern finding its way into her voice."Are you okay?"

"Do you remember what we were talking about yesterday?"Ken asked finally.

Miyako nodded.

"Of course.As long as you believe in yourself and stay positive, the Dark Seed won't be able to hurt you."She smiled at him, awaiting approval on her answer.

"I just can't help but think," Ken said softly, "what happens if I don't stay positive?What would happen if I got upset over something or had a lapse?Would it take over again or would I have time to catch myself?"

Miyako's gloved hands gripped Ken's arm again and silent, she frowned, thinking over his words."If you fall," she said tentatively, "you've got all of us to catch you."

Ken smiled, a sight that the other children had grown accustomed to.Gently, so not to make her think it was an overly negative response to her touch, Ken pulled his arm away.The two remaining children followed the lead set by the others and shuffled down the stairs.When they arrived at the Ichijouji residence, Ken's parents had already let his friends in.

Iori, Takeru and Hikari had politely waited for the indigo haired boy while their digimon--and Poromon, who had taken the first trip down, made themselves at home with Minomon.Daisuke, however, took it upon himself and Chibimon to rummage through Ken's closet.

Hikari put a hand to her forehead and shook her head in mock exasperation, though Takeru could see her fighting a smile when Daisuke defended his actions, first explaining it was his right as Ken's best friend and second as just looking for something for the group to do when the final two stragglers finally showed up.

When said stragglers finally did show up, Daisuke, a deck of playing cards in one had and the other planted on the wall, launched into a rousing verse of 'Ken and Miyako, sitting in a tree...'He was rewarded with a random book being thrown at him, accompanied by a glare from Miyako.(Iori later scolded her for having broken the spine of one of Ken's books.)

"You wanna play cards?"Daisuke offered after dodging the book.

"NO!" Miyako shouted before anyone else could respond.

"Aw, this is an easy game..." Daisuke coaxed.

Miyako crossed her arms over her chest, waiting.

"It's called '52 Card Pick-Up,'" Daisuke continued, shuffling the deck.Hikari bit her lip to stiffle giggles when Miyako cautiously asked how to play."52 cards..." Daisuke began.Takeru rolled his eyes at the old joke.Iori calmly watched, not knowing how to play or why the older kids found it humorous.Daisuke held the deck between his thumb and middle finger, using his index finger to slightly bend the desk."...Now you pick 'em up!" he declared, using his pointer finger to propel the cards out of his hand and on to the floor at Miyako's feet.

"Funny," Miyako dryly muttered.

"I'll get that later," Ken said, averting a possible crisis as he gently nudged a few of the cards with his toe.

Meanwhile, Chibimon had darted into the closet and came out with a black and white soccer ball.

"We can play with this!" the small digimon annouced, hefting it above his head.

"Dude, that ball's almost as big as you," Daisuke said with a chuckle.

"We can't play soccer in the winter," Ken said, "There's snow everywhere."

"There wasn't on the roof," Takeru spoke up.

"It had been sprinkled with rock salt," Iori clarified.

"We can play three on three," Hikari advised."But we have to be fair when we split up into teams."

"Yeah," Takeru affirmed, "Ichijouji-san and Daisuke-kun can't be on the same team!"

"I'm on Ken-kun's team!" Miyako announced, her quick enthusiasm causing Daisuke to snicker.

"I should be with Daisuke-san, then," Iori said, running the probable skills of the children through his mind."Miyako-chan doesn't play soccer much and I'm not very athletic, so that makes us the weaker team members.It wouldn't be fair to have us on the same team."

"How much do you know about soccer, Miyako-chan?" Takeru asked.

"Counting the jersey numbers of the all the cute guys on Daisuke's team or not?" Miyako asked.The other children chuckled.

"Not."

"Only the goalie can use his hands," Miyako said uncertainly, "right?"

Ken and Daisuke nodded.

"What else?" Takeru asked.

"That's it, really."Miyako blushed, embarrassed."I guess I don't really pay attention to what the players are doing."

"That's okay," Hikari said with a smile, "Ichijouji-san and Takeru-kun can teach you as we go along.It doesn't really matter since we can't play in the official positions away."

"So the teams will be Ichijouji-san, Takeru-san and Miyako-chan versus Daisuke-san, Hikari-san and me," Iori confirmed.

"Sounds fair," Hikari nodded.

"Woo!You're going down, Ken!"Daisuke shouted.

"We'll see," Ken replied with a small smile.He hadn't been able to test his theory yet, but Ken believed he has lost the majority of his sports skills with his Dark Seed.With that the six children ran through the Ichijoujis' apartment and back up the stairwell, leaving their digimon to the warmth of Ken's room.

"Hm, what are we going to do for goals?" Takeru asked, seeing nothing except the metal link fence and casing around the stairs.

"I know," Hikari said, pulling her gloves off."Miyako give me your gloves, too."Miyako complied and Hikari tied her gloves to the fence, the left glove roughly a meter away from the right.She crossed the roof and tied Miyako's gloves to the fence in a similar manner."If the ball hits the fence between the gloves, it's a goal.My team aims for Miyako's gloves and your team aims for my gloves.That way we have to 'guard' our own clothing.I made them small since we don't have enough people for goalies.That side of the fence," she pointed, "and the stairwell are the boundaries."

"Ready?"Daisuke asked.Upon getting an affirmative, he set the soccer ball as close to the center of their makeshift field as possible.He backed about a foot away, his back towards Hikari's gloves."Iori, you stand here and Hikari-chan, you stand there."The goggled boy gestured to about a foot and a half away from him on either side."Ken goes there."Ken moved to where Daisuke pointed, about the same distance away from the ball as he was."And Miyako goes there, and Takeru goes there."The remaining two children followed in suit so that they too were facing their Jogress partners.

"Let's count it off together so that we'll all be ready," Daisuke suggested.He was rewarded with five voices which he immediately joined.

"Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, ONE!"

With the final number shouted, Ken and Daisuke's feet shot out, the former finally secured the ball.He dodged around Daisuke, the maroon haired boy dashing up to his side trying to steal the ball, but Ken controlled it well, though it did take more effort than with what he had grown accustomed.Moving swiftly, Ken reached a good distance away from the fence and aimed for the space marked between Hikari's gloves.He kicked and the ball soared until it smacked against the fence, a metallic rattling professing the point earned.It bounced back from the fence and Hikari plucked the ball out of the air as Miyako grabbed Takeru's hands and jumped up and down, cheering.

"How are we going to keep score?" Iori asked.Hikari, who had just finished returning the ball to were she guessed it had been as the beginning of the game, pursed her lips.

"Here," she pulled the brim of her hat up and removed her pink hair clip.She placed it on the ground just outside of the court, on the side marked by Miyako's gloves.Hikari then adjusted her hat."One point."

The children lined up again on opposite sides of the ball and counted down from ten to one.Again, Ken and Daisuke launched themselves after the ball and Ken soon had possession.It didn't last this time, however, Hikari came up from behind Ken and kicked it out from between his feet, allowing Daisuke to intercept and change direction.Takeru charged Daisuke, trying to get the ball, but Daisuke responded by kicking for a goal.The ball once again clanged against the fence and due to Daisuke's guarded position, it was mostly luck that it hit between the goal marks.

Wordlessly, Ken unwound his scarf and dropped onto the ground, just outside the boundaries, signifying a point for Daisuke's team.

The teams lined up again and Daisuke and Ken battled it out, with the occasional interception from Hikari and Takeru.Hikari's help didn't seem to stop Ken from far exceeding Daisuke's abilities, which lead to two things.

The first was Ken's theory concerning his Darkness.In hindsight, he realized he should have come to the same conclusion in Mexico, but he was pleased enough with the revelation that he decided it didn't matter when he discovered it, just that it was true.The deactivation of his Dark Seed did not cause him to forget the things he had learned or lose the skills he had acquired, it just made the information harder to access.The bottom line, however, as Ken saw it, was that the knowledge was still with him.He knew from previous experience that new lessons would not be as effortless as they had once been, though with a good deal of studying, Ken assumed he would be able to pull up his grade point average.

The second was a pile on his teams' side of the roof that consisted of Hikari's hair clip, hat, scarf and her yellow kerchief.Apparently, Iori didn't wear any extras and Daisuke was deadset on keeping his only accessory: his goggles.

Ken, of course, was determined to have the goggles join the pile.

Once again, the ball was returned to center court and the two boys, seemingly unaware that other people did indeed exist, faced each other with flying feet.

"Am I," Miyako began, sitting on her haunches with her chin propped in her hand after being reduced to an unofficial cheerleader and deciding that she didn't like that post, "the only one who thinks he did it on purpose?"

Iori, who would have been Miyako's competitor in the cheerleading department if he was willing to show more enthusiasm then a simple 'Nice job' after Daisuke scored their teams single goal, blinked.

"Who did what?" he asked, genuinely interested.Had anyone other than Miyako asked the question, with the possible exception of Takeru, of course, Iori doubted he would have been particularly interested, but it had been Miyako who asked so he was curious.

"That Daisuke did this to get a rematch with Ken.Remember the last time they played against each other?"

Iori nodded in response to Miyako's second inquiry, mentally reflecting that it seemed such a long time ago.He watched the two boys in question a bit longer, giving Daisuke's expression when the ball hit the fence in a clanging request for his goggles extra consideration.

"No," he said simply.

"Hikari-chan," Daisuke whined, almost pleading.

"We don't have anything else," the brunette responded walking towards him.Daisuke took on the appearance of a deer caught in headlights before trying, without much luck, to escape.Finally, he lowered his head and pouted.With great pomp and circumstance, Hikari grasped the goggles by the black band that had been doing it's job of securing them on Daisuke's head and slowly slid them off.Oddly enough, the sensation of his crush all but running her fingers through his hair was the last thing on Daisuke's mind as the goggles were gently wrapped in Hikari's scarf to keep them safe.

They returned the ball to it's place of origin once more, but before they countdown could get lower than four, the remaining players became distracted by a new complication.

It had begun to snow.The white flurries swirled around the children grower steadier with each passing moment.Hikari tilted her head back and let crystals of snow fall into her mouth.Iori looked at the fluttering flakes with the wonder of a child, until Takeru hauled his Jogress partner to his feet, insisting that the boy have some fun!The two skated across the slippery with melting snow roof in their boots.Daisuke created a snow ball as best he could and tossed it at Ken.The snow, Daisuke soon found, was not good at all for packing.The small snowball exploded in a flourish of white on impact, not even sticking long enough to get the other boy damp.Miyako squatted and rubbed her legs.Not only where they cold, now they were cold _and wet._

"Hey, what's wrong, Miyako?" Daisuke called from across the roof.

"I'm cold!" was the girl's angry reply."It's cold and wet out here!"

Daisuke paused for a moment."Want me to through a snowball at you?" he asked devilishly.

"No," Miyako shouted back.

"Ya sure?"

"Positive," Miyako affirmed.

Daisuke shrugged."Suit yourself."

"It is pretty cold out," Takeru said as Iori gripped him tightly to keep his balance."Maybe we should go in."Out of respect for the younger boy, Takeru effectively masked his concern.

"I want to make snow angels," Hikari mock-pouted, but she smiled and retrieved her gloves instead, before unwrapping Daisuke's goggles and tucking her scarf around her neck.She clipped a lock of hair away from her eyes and situated her hat back a top her head.Finally, she stuffed her kerchief in her pocket, having already blocked the way to her neck.

Miyako dashed to the fence and untied her gloves, slipping them on to warm her hands.As she made her way to the stairwell, Takeru, Iori, and Hikari having already gone down and Daisuke impatiently holding the door open, Ken caught the crook of her elbow as she passed him.

"Do you remember what we were talking about yesterday?" Ken softly asked again.

Miyako nodded.

"I think I'll be okay."The three remaining children slipped down the stairs and back to Ken's apartment where their digimon, who spent the afternoon in a heated room with mugs of steaming hot chocolate--with marshmallows!--courtesy of Ken's mother, awaited them.

While the roof did solitude to offer, it just wasn't what the boy was looking for.

**~Owari~**

** **

Disclaimers:Are you getting tired of this?I am.I don't own anything related to Digimon, all right?

Author Notes:I worked on various forms of this fic for waaaaay to long and I'm not pleased with it at all.It's just so pointless.Friendshippy fluff just does not have the same appeal as Romancy fluff.Oh, and I hope no one thought I was bashing Daisuke throughout this, I just like the sibling-ish arguing he and Miyako have in the show and tried to put it in a fic.


End file.
